Welcome to the Fishing Report. Townsend looked to be almost vacant this morning. I only saw 5 vehicles on my 2 ½ mile commute to work. That is the way it will be for a while. Our little resort town is in rest mode. Kids are going back to school. Vacationers have vacationed. What we prepare for now is the Fall boom. And that peaks when the leaves do the same thing.

Little River looked good and it was inviting. I could have stayed all day. The water flow is below normal again, not by much and probably not for long. Flow is 103 cubic feet per second compared to median flow for this date of 114 cfs. That is not a noticeable difference unless you are like me. I visit the river first thing every morning at the exact same location. I know every rock there intimately. The water temperature at the swinging bridge is 71 degrees.

It is going to cool off next week and I am very glad about that. The low Wednesday night is predicted to be 59 degrees. Highs later in the week will be in the 80’s. I am going fishing for the first time in at least two weeks.

Fishing is fine right now if you base your success on Summer conditions. The trout in the Park are most active early and late unless we have cloud cover like we do now. I just glanced out at the Smoky Mountains. It is dark over there.

The trout are hiding in the riffles today. That is not verified but I know they are. They will also be in the choppy water where a riffle enters a pool. Dry flies are working. I would use terrestrials. Try ants, beetles and Green Weenies. I would also try a black Stealth Bomber.

We have had a hard time getting Stealth Bombers. Our supplier, Rainy’s flies must have underestimated the pattern’s popularity this year. So, I tied 19 and received them into our computer system on Thursday. “That will last for a while”, I thought. Yesterday morning, Ethan told me we were just about out of them. So, I tied a dozen more. I was meeting with the Vice-Mayor yesterday and Rob Fightmaster came in. He ties some flies for us. He had some Stealth Bomber patterns that he had tied. He used the new method. I use the old method.

I think the old method works best in the clear lakes and rivers. That’s why mine are called the Stillwater Stealth Bomber. I think the new version with more flash will work better on most lower elevations streams where there is come color in the water. The smallmouth bass on the clear lakes shy away from a lot of flash. So, Rob said he would tie some for us. Great. Rob is an excellent fly tyer. And, he enjoys tying some flies to be sold in our store. Neither Rob or I would want to do it full time.

But it is kind of fun to have a little manufacturing operation going on. I can actually watch them being sold in my office in real time. One of the computers on my desk is connected to our point of sale system. I can view what’s going on all day if I want to. Actually, I don’t have time to do that. But I can pull up the Stillwater Stealth Bomber record and watch as they sell during the day. Then, I can run over at another desk in my office and tie them as they sell. How much fun is that? I think it might get old after a while.

Our fly fishing classes will be offered from March to October 2011. To sign up just call the shop at 877-448-3474. You can read more on our website in the Schools Section. The fly fishing class schedule follows:

Saturday September 10 – Beginner Day One
Saturday September 24 – Beginner Day One
Sunday September 25 – Beginner Onstream Day Two
Saturday October 8 – Beginner Day One
Saturday October 22 – Beginner Day One
Sunday October 23 – Beginner Onstream Day Two